Last chance for #Syria’s Asad to reform

To use a baseball metaphor, last week Syrian President Bashar al-Asad stepped up to the plate with the game on the line. He had a chance to hit a home run with his much-anticipated speech to the nation in response to the growing protests against the government. Instead, he grounded out meekly to second base. The question now is whether the game is over or there is still time to mount a comeback.

The expectations were high for the speech. But this is nothing new to Asad. When he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Asad, in 2000, most believed he would be a pro-West reformer because he was a licensed ophthalmologist who studied in London, was a computer nerd and liked the technological toys of the West. Having met with him on a regular basis between 2004 and 2009, I can say with some authority that he is different from his father. On the other hand, one has to remember that he spent all of 18 months in England. For most of his life he was affected and influenced by a Syrian paradigm that included hostility toward and distrust of Israel and the United States. He sees the world ultimately through Syrian eyes.

As such, it was not a surprise that in his speech Asad blamed much of the protests on foreign “conspirators.” Anyone who has spent time in Syria recognizes this paranoia. This… Read more

Lesch is a professor of Middle East history at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Among his many books are The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria; The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History; and The Middle East and the United States: History, Politics and Ideologies.

Contribute to the Syrian Cause

ACTION REQUESTED:

Contact your representatives:
Just as President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders called for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan President Col. Muammar Qaddafi, so too must they call for the immediate resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad. His deadly attacks on peaceful demonstrators must be condemned by the U.S., if we truly support democracy and the will of the people.
The Syrian government must immediately stop the killing of civilians, protect peaceful demonstrators, provide open access to medical care, allow free access to humanitarian organizations and international media and expedite serious political and democratic reforms that satisfy the aspirations of the Syrian people.Click here to find your Representative
To find your Congressman: house.gov
To find your Senator: senate.gov
Call the White House: 202-456-1414
Call the U.S. State Department: 202-647-4000 and 202-647-6575
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of Foreign Relation Committee: 202-224-2742
U.N. Secretary Gen. Ban Ki-moon: 212-963-5012 or ecu@un.org
Syrian Embassy: 202-232-6316 or info@syrembassy.net

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 42 other followers

If you have information about human rights violations in Syria, contact the International Criminal Court: 011-31(0)70-515-8515, 011-31-(0)70-515-8555 (f), or otp.informationdesk@icc-cp.int

Press freedom group fights to raise awareness of the plight of war reporter Austin Tice who was detained by an unknown group in August 2012 It is very doubtful that you have ever heard of Austin Tice. Yet he is a freelance journalist who has been held captive in Syria since August 2012.Too little has been reported about a man who is on the verge of spending […]

Families must find work or enroll in social assistance programs when monthly allowance ends, as Canada responds to transition: ‘We can’t abandon them’Minutes after her 25-hour flight touched down in Toronto, Shoruk Alsakni burst into tears.Some four years earlier, she – along with her husband, mother-in-law and six children – had fled the growing violence an […]